Since the presently described invention touches on several fields, it is useful to discuss prior art in these separate areas.
Google and other companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and MapQuest have built mapping services which are based on a combination of tile servers as well as vector graphics. Google has integrated its mapping services with its “Street View” fleet of cars with cameras on the roofs in order to create a further ground-level view of the world's streets.
The use of SLAM mapping for the purposes of augmented reality was pioneered by a company called 13th Lab in Scandanavia.
Microsoft Live Labs created a product called Photosynth capable of building point clouds of physical scenes from a series of photographs.